Boeing up on China's approval for the return of the 737 MAX

Boeing stock has jumped 7.54 percent to top US$202.38, on the late-breaking news that China has granted approval for its airlines to resume 737 MAX operations by year’s end. The Civil Aviation Administration of China was the first to ground the MAX and is the last major regulator to approve a return to 737 MAX operations after the aircraft was grounded following two fatal accidents in 2018 and 2019. “After conducting sufficient assessment, CAAC considers the corrective actions are adequate to address this unsafe condition,” the CAAC said. It has issued an Airworthiness Directive, approving of the 737 MAX modifications and airline flights will resume by year-end. According to New York-based analysts Bernstein “updates to training procedures, software downloads, and maintenance work will be needed before the roughly 90 airplanes currently grounded in China are back in service.” Bernstein expects deliveries of the 370 737 MAXs that are stored for Chinese airlines should resume from January. READ: MH370: Probable location found of MH370  READ: MH370: The extraordinary debris trail across the Indian Ocean  READ: MH370: chronology of major events  READ: Qatar Airways award-winning Qsuites the ultimate in privacy Chinese airlines also account for almost a third of the backlog of the 3,336 737 MAXs. Boeing said that “the CAAC’s decision is an important milestone toward safely returning the 737 MAX to service in China and we continue to work with regulators and our customers to return the airplane to service worldwide.” Two big holdouts for the return of the 737 MAX are Indonesia, where the first crash occurred in 2018, and Russia. And the good news for Boeing is expected to continue this month with Qatar Airways expected to order up to 50 of the company’s 777X freighter. Qatar Airways has been evaluating the 777X freighter and the A350 freighter from Airbus to replace its 28 strong fleets of 747 and 777 freighters and to meet expansion plans. Boeing is also talking to other key 777X customers such as Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, and Lufthansa about orders for its proposed freighter variant. Boeing forecasts there is a market for 2,400 new freighters over the next 20 years.